Theft

Outcloud Peak, which was surrounded by white clouds, created a picturesque scene that one could never forget.

A young disciple in a bluish white robe walked up the steps along the sole winding mountain road. One of his feet was raised and was about to step on the stone step before him when his eyes turned blurry. He was rooted on the spot and could not move, even his consciousness faded.

A figure then suddenly appeared beside him. It was Han Li.

"Tell me more about the Sutra Pavilion in the sect." Han Li's eyes flashed with a blue light as he stared at the young man's eyes and said slowly in a strange voice.

"Sutra Pavilion is located on Sacred Gatherer Peak and is divided into inner and outer pavilions. The outer pavilion is open to all disciples and elders, while the inner pavilion only allows the inner sect disciples and elders to enter…" The white-robed disciple's eyes were slack and he replied in a dull manner.

Listening to what the disciple said, Han Li's expression did not change and a trace of thought flashed past his eyes.

As the most important location of the Cold Fire Sect, management of Sutra Pavilion was very strict. The disciples and elders of the sect usually perused old scriptures. Not only did they need to pay a lot of spirit stones, they also needed to deduct contribution points to the sect.

These points were the measure of an inner sect disciple or elder's contributions to the sect. It was generally obtained by completing the tasks issued by the sect. The harder the task was, the higher the contribution points obtained. If there was not enough time to accumulate them, it was impossible to have enough contribution points to exchange for higher-level techniques and secret skills.

Therefore, it was necessary for some people to change paths.

It was not long before there were many unaffiliated cultivators who had evil designs and secretly sneaked into the Sutra Pavilion to steal old scriptures under the pretext of joining the Cold Fire Sect as a guest elder. In the end, all of them were seen through and their deaths were miserable.

The main reason being the strict precautionary measures of Sutra Pavilion, that ensured these unscrupulous types had no chance at all.

According to the white-robed disciple, there were Spatial Tempering stage elders stationed in the pavilion all year round and there were always patrols around the clock, day and night. There were also numerous prohibitions, which was hard for ordinary cultivators to overcome.

Han Li pondered for a while and took the finger that was pointing at the area between the white-robed disciple's eyebrows away. His body was like a ghost and he disappeared from the spot in a flash.

The raised foot of the white-robed disciple finally stepped down.

He stumbled and nearly fell.

After stabilizing his body, he rubbed his numb calves and looked around in a daze. He shook his head incredulously and continued to ascend the mountain.

Thirty minutes later.

Han Li's figure appeared on Sacred Gatherer Peak. He stood under a tall and green cypress tree as he looked at a two-story pavilion in the distance.

The pavilion was about 90 feet high, with eight corners and sides, but only a single gate on the south facing side and the rooftops were engraved with a variety of complex runes to protect against lightning and fire.

Two groups of patrolling cultivators surrounded the eight sides of the pavilion and took turns to patrol.

After watching for a while, a thoughtful expression appeared on Han Li's face. His figure blurred and he disappeared from beneath the tree.

Later that night.

There was a valley deep in the Cold Fire Sect with a blue stone hall. There were seven or eight groups of disciples dedicatedly patrolling the hall and the leaders were all cultivators from the Deity Transformation stage. It was obvious that they attached great importance to this place.

A patrol team silently flew through the entrance of the valley. A big man in a blue robe appeared to be in the lead with a sleepy expression on his face as he yawned.

At this moment, another patrol team flew over from several feet away and went to patrol in another direction.

Seeing this, the big man in the blue robe could not help curling his lips.

Although Celestial Palace Hall was an important location of the Cold Fire Sect, it seemed overly cautious to arrange for so many guards.

Not only was the location hidden, the sect was also protected by a large array formation that covered the entire mountain range. No one would be able to sneak in.

Naturally, he did not dare to say these words aloud. Instead, he sent a voice transmission to the disciples behind him to be alert and was about to fly towards the valley.

At this moment, a loud thunderclap sounded in the hall not far from the big man in the blue robe and then a purple flash of lightning quickly followed before everything became normal again.

The blue-robed big man was stunned and did not seem to have regained his senses.

"Who is it!"

"Oh no, someone sneaked into Celestial Palace Hall!"

A disciple behind the big man exclaimed.

The blue-robed man finally reacted and flew down in a panic as he arrived outside the hall in an instant.

"Who dares to trespass on Celestial Palace Hall without my permission? Hurry up and get them!" The big man shouted. He held a magic weapon in one hand and with a wave of his hand, the patrolling disciples behind him immediately spread out and surrounded the hall.

Swish, swish, swish!

The other patrolling disciples also immediately flew to the hall's entrance. There were seven or eight teams and hundreds of people and flooded the entrance where not even a fly could escape.

The hall was dark and there was no other movement.

All the walls here were covered by restriction seals and their divine senses could not penetrate through the walls.

Several leaders looked at each other, and were not sure whether they wanted to rush in.

As patrolling disciples, they were not qualified to step inside.

"What happened?" A white light flashed and landed outside the hall as an elderly man with white hair appeared.

"Master Fan, you arrived in good time. Someone just broke into Celestial Palace Hall! We are about to go in to catch him, but according to the rules, we are not qualified to go in," a leader came up to the elderly man and said quickly.

"What! A bunch of fools, why are you obeying rules at this time? What are you waiting for? Go inside quickly!" The white-haired elderly man heard this and immediately shouted angrily and rushed into the hall.

When the leaders saw this, most of them followed immediately, but two of them stayed outside.

The white-haired elderly man was stunned when he rushed into the entrance of the hall.

The restriction seal over the main entrance of the hall was still intact.

The elderly man was surprised, he had no time to think about it. Taking out something in the shape of a token, a ray of white light flew out from the surface and landed on the door.

There was a flash of light on the door and it opened.

Several people rushed into the hall immediately and the white-haired elderly man waved out a hand seal.

White glaring lights immediately burst out in all parts of the main hall and completely illuminated the inside of the hall.

Everyone was shocked. The furnishings inside the hall were simple, with only a dozen white jade shelves, which could be seen at a glance.

There was no one here! However, there were several traces of black burn marks on the ground.

"There's no one? Did he escape?" The leaders could not help but look at each other when they saw this.

The big man in the blue robe was also in the hall. His eyes were wide open and full of disbelief.

When the incident happened, he was right beside the hall and his eyes had never left it. So how did the person leave?

"Ah! Sky Shadow Rock! Moon Grass!" That white-haired elderly man rushed to a white jade shelf, his face pale and his lips trembling.

Each of these white jade shelves were filled with precious materials. There were restrictive seals around the shelves, but the seals of two of the white jade shelves had been broken and there were quite a few materials missing.

"Flowing Wood, Iron Heart Feather!" The elderly man ran to another shelf, beating his chest and stamping his feet, feeling devastated.

The faces of the leaders were not looking good as well.

"Chase after him! Use all the patrolling disciples and make sure to catch the thief!" The white-haired elderly man shouted angrily.

A large number of precious materials for making talismans were stolen from Celestial Palace Hall and it caused a great stir in the Cold Fire Sect. Countless patrolling disciples searched tirelessly day and night for the thief.

The hunt for the thief lasted from the middle of the night to dawn of the next day, and many outer sect disciples were awakened to join in.

As a result, the whole of Spiritual Flame Mountain was almost turned over, but they remained no closer to catching the thief.

This matter soon alarmed the higher-ups of the sect and an Elder in the Spatial Tempering stage who was good at tracking, came to Celestial Palace Hall personally. After investigating, he deduced that the thief escaped with a lightning transmission array. There was no trace left behind and he was unable to track then.

Seeing that the Elder from the late-stage of Spatial Tempering was unable to find the thief, Master Fan of Celestial Palace Hall resentfully stopped the hunt as it was impossible to alarm the fusion stage Grand Elder because of such a small matter.

Although the hunt was over on the surface, it was not easy for the sect to leave it alone.

There was no sign that the large array protecting the Spiritual Flame Mountain had been tampered with, so the person was still trapped inside the Spiritual Flame Mountain. The Cold Fire Sect sent professionals to discreetly pursue him.

Because of this incident, the Cold Fire Sect's defenses were tighter than usual.